Monday, 18 October 2010

A Handy Hint For When The Blogging Muse Fails You

Sometimes it’s hard to find an interesting subject to post, particularly if you’ve been at it for a year or more, as I have. Going over old ground will only serve once or twice - readers change and if they haven’t been with you for long, they probably won’t know warmed-up fare from freshly concocted dishes.

There is one way to make sure the news is always sensational: invent it!

Decades ago there was a free-lance journalist working for any London newspaper which would buy his stories; Beloved knew him when he was a young man; the two of them collaborated on a long forgotten piece of film, for which Beloved wrote the score.

One day Eric asked “Did you ever see the piece about Margaret Truman singing at Covent Garden in the press? I wrote it.”

Beloved, who was already employed at the Royal Opera, couldn’t believe his ears. Margaret Truman was a singer? Surely not.

“Well” Eric said, “I needed a story, so I rang the White House, giving the name of The Times Of London, got through to the Press Office and asked them, if they could they please confirm the rumour that Margaret Truman was to appear on stage at Covent Garden as a singer.”

“As there had never been such a rumour, naturally, they denied it,” Eric added, "which made the piece ‘White House denies rumour that the President’s daughter is to appear at Covent Garden’ the absolute truth”.

When I was writing a column for a West Country Sunday, my editor mentioned, casually, that he intended to run something under the heading, 'Breakfast Presenters Deny Affair'. Being a bit 'green', I asked how he found out about the affair. His reply? "What affair?"

Later, the same editor offered me a start with a new national Sunday tabloid. My circumstances at the time, made it impossible for me to take him up on his offer. As it happens, a true blessing.

Ah yes, I well remember the fuss about Margret singing while dad played the piano. Quite surprisig how so many people blew that one right out of proportion. My school chum's dad was a reporter(slash)journalist. I was an aspiring photographer. I did learn a little how they would steer the person being interviewed into places they did not want to go. It was pretty discouraging. ATB!

Great fun, and wonderful anecdote.Eye witnesses are the worst reporterssince they only remember what theyperceived within their life experienceand perceptual apparatus. So the newscan be something nurtured by WilliamRandolph Hearst, looking for thesensational, and end up in the tabloidsin super market check out stands;Angelina Jolie adopts alien baby!Course the alien child is from Korea.

Since my blog is about my trips and recollections I won’t be finished for quite a while – I am going on many trips and as for my recollections I stopped at my mother’s youth, so I still have to go through her wedding, the war, my youth and all the rest of the story – many long boring posts to come! As for telling non news politicians around here are good at that, they will tell about their adversaries “I certainly don’t believe in the rumor that my opponent, Mr. x, has been beating his wife” or things like that.

It's not exactly the same, but it reminds me of a story Spike Milligan once told about a group of employees who sent an anonymous letter to their boss as an April Fool joke just stating "Everything is known". The boss resign immediately and disappeared. Of course that may or may not be true, you'll have to believe both Spike Milligan and me on that....Tramp

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Benno

About Me

I was born and educated in Germany but I have lived in the UK for decades.
Before I started blogging, I had time for gardening, writing, reading, meeting friends, for poetry and literature, concerts and the theatre. I enjoyed cooking and feeding others.
Now, I do all these things if blogging permits.